Got a client with a huge site you want to exclude from backups? Enhance control panel does not currently support disabling backups for individual websites via its UI. However, if you need to block backups for a specific site without disabling all backups or removing the backup server, here's a safe and effective workaround.
Step-by-Step: Block Backups for One Website
1. Identify the Website's Backup Directory
On the backup server, backup folders are named using UUIDs, for example:
/backups/f000be85-98a4-44ea-b8e8-013b6612ab8f
To quickly identify the website UUID inside Enhance, run this on the app server:
cpfence --list-website-uuids
2. Lock the Backup Folder
To prevent Enhance from writing to the site’s backup directory, run this on the backup server:
chmod 000 /backups/f000be85-98a4-44ea-b8e8-013b6612ab8f
chattr +i /backups/f000be85-98a4-44ea-b8e8-013b6612ab8f
chmod 000 removes all permissions (read, write, execute)chattr +i marks the directory as immutable – even root cannot modify or delete it unless this flag is removed
This effectively blocks Enhance from adding new snapshots or overwriting existing ones for that site, without affecting others.
3. Confirm It's Blocked
You can test by triggering a manual backup from Enhance. The snapshot for this site will fail silently, and Enhance will show a sync error for just that website on a daily basis. Yes, it’s annoying to see the failed message in the activity log every day, but it’s currently the only way until Enhance adds website-level backup exclusion (hopefully soon).
4. How to Re-enable Backups for the Site?
To undo the block:
chattr -i /backups/f000be85-98a4-44ea-b8e8-013b6612ab8f
chmod 755 /backups/f000be85-98a4-44ea-b8e8-013b6612ab8f
This restores normal operation and allows backups to resume.
5. (Optional) Backup This Heavy Client Using cPFence Backups
You can still opt your client for a dedicated backup solution using cPFence WordPress backups. It gives you full control over what to include or exclude in the backups.
Example setup:
Accounts with ≤ 20 GB of disk space and ≤ 100,000 inodes can stay in daily Enhance backups. For clients exceeding that, you can set up a dedicated backup server for them with added charges.
To learn how to use cPFence WordPress backups:
https://cpfence.app/backup-and-restore-individual-wordpress-sites-with-ease/
Notes
- This method only blocks backups at the filesystem level. Enhance is unaware of the block, so it will attempt backups, but they will silently fail for the targeted site.
- This won't stop S3 object storage backups if you're using that setup.
Got a better workaround or an idea on how to do it better? Share it below!
